A Chip-Scale Optical Frequency Reference for the Telecommunication Band Based on Acetylene

Lasers precisely stabilized to known transitions between energy levels in simple, well-isolated quantum systems such as atoms and molecules are essential for a plethora of applications in metrology and optical communications. The implementation of such spectroscopic systems in a chip-scale format would allow to reduce cost dramatically and would open up new opportunities in both photonically integrated platforms and free-space applications such as lidar. Here the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a molecular cladded waveguide platform based on the integration of serpentine nanoscale photonic waveguides with a miniaturized acetylene chamber is presented. The goal of this platform is to enable cost-effective, miniaturized, and low power optical frequency references in the telecommunications C band. Finally, this platform is used to stabilize a 1.5 µm laser with a precision better than 400 kHz at 34 s. The molecular cladded waveguide platform introduced here could be integrated with components such as on-chip modulators, detectors, and other devices to form a complete on-chip laser stabilization system.